The Spirituality of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation into a Sacred Community - Softcover

We've all heard these complaints before. Maybe we've even spoken them ourselves a time or two. And who can blame us? Too often religious congregations dwindle to little more than cliquish gatherings of longtime members or places we send our kids for their obligatory religious education. They feel dry, irrelevant, unwelcoming.

Yet congregations of all sizes can be so much more. Writing with humor, verve and candor, Ron Wolfson sets forth a renewed vision of synagogues as energetic sacred communities--and outlines how you can transform your own congregation into an inviting center of vibrant relationships and personal spiritual rejuvenation. The key lies in a spirituality of welcoming--not mere politeness or courtesy, but a deep hospitality manifested in all aspects of congregational life and based on the fundamental understanding that all people--members, guests and visitors alike--are created in the image of God.

* Creating a culture of honor, resisting a culture of blame
* Using music to unify the whole congregation in a truly worshipful experience
* Membership dues ... and don'ts
* Using effective greeting techniques, clear signage, and synagogue literature to welcome, not alienate
* "Low-hanging Fruit"--practical suggestions you can implement right away
* ... and much, much more

Dr. Ron Wolfson, visionary educator and inspirational speaker, is Fingerhut Professor of Education at American Jewish University in Los Angeles and a cofounder of Synagogue 3000. He is author of Relational Judaism: Using the Power of Relationships to Transform the Jewish Community; The Seven Questions You're Asked in Heaven: Reviewing and Renewing Your Life on Earth; Be Like God: God's To-Do List for Kids; God's To-Do List: 103 Ways to Be an Angel and Do God's Work on Earth; Hanukkah, Passover and Shabbat, all Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs Art of Jewish Living family guides to spiritual celebrations; The Spirituality of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation into a Sacred Community; A Time to Mourn, a Time to Comfort: A Guide to Jewish Bereavement and Comfort and, with Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, What You Will See Inside a Synagogue (all Jewish Lights), a book for children ages 6 and up. He contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism―Yizkor, Who by Fire, Who by Water―Un'taneh Tokef, All These Vows―Kol Nidre and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism―Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).